Apple releases MacBook Pro hard drive firmware update

A new firmware fix for some MacBook Pro hard drives aims to stop random noises, perhaps bringing relief to some who have been plagued by clicking and beeping internal drives.

Hard Drive Firmware Update 2.0 was released Wednesday for some 7200rpm drives. It is intended for June 2009 model MacBook Pro systems. The 3.71MB update requires Mac OS X 10.5.7 and will update the drive firmware to 0007APM2. It can be downloaded direct from Apple.

Apple says the update "reduces certain infrequent noises" made by the drives. Last week, the Mac maker officially acknowledged noisy hard drives that have been plaguing some MacBook Pro owners for months. Prior to the public confirmation, some AppleCare representatives had told individual customers that the company was working on a fix.

The issue became impossible not to acknowledge after a thread hundreds of posts long over at the Apple Support forums developed. In that discussion, countless users have complained that their 7,200RPM hard drives will randomly click and beep, and some have experienced slower access times. The issue appears to have grown since it was first reported in January.

Some have speculated the issue may have arisen from Seagate Momentus 7200.4 G-Force hard drives. Specifically, the problem is believed to have occurred from the drive's protection system, which may be incompatible with Mac hardware. In addition, the G-Force technology is not needed on the MacBook Pro, which has pre-existing anti-shock protection.